Cyclist hospitalised following weekend crash during federation’s first road race

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Cyclist Richard Lam has been hospitalised following a crash on Sunday
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By Neto Baptiste

Cyclist Richard Lam was hospitalised on Sunday with broken ribs and other injuries following a crash during the Antigua and Barbuda Cycling Federation’s (ABCF) first road race of the 2021 domestic season.

According to reports, Lam, who was jostling with other riders at the head of the race, hit a deep pothole just outside Bethesda village and was flung from his bike as a result. The rider was taken to the Mount St John’s Medical Center with broken ribs and a suspected broken collar bone.

President of the cycling federation, St Clair Williams, explained that Lam was kept overnight for observation and may spend a few days at the hospital.

“The guys were descending down into Bethesda where Richard Lam hit a pothole and went down crashing to the floor. Luckily, the other riders had a chance to steer away from that pothole and it was not a regular one, it was one of the deeper ones you would find. We called the ambulance and they took him to the hospital, assessed him and he stayed overnight. He is in good spirits; he’s relaxing, he’s resting and he will be there for maybe a few more days for observation to make sure all is well,” he said.

However, according to Williams, riders injured during events put on by the cycling federation are fully covered under their insurance policy with a local company, Nagico, through Bryson’s Insurance.

“It is an accident insurance, so that is covered and I think in the last race we had an accident as well where we had to produce an accident report and submit it to the insurance company. In addition to that, we are just compiling another incident report as it pertains to what took place yesterday [Sunday] so we can submit it. It covers up to $250,000 if it was a group of about five, six or seven persons in a crash and it had to cover expenses, so it covers a wide range of things,” he said.

The Southern Loop Road Race, the federation’s first this season, saw participation from a wide range of cyclists to include veteran Robert Marsh and young national rider Ghere Coates.

“Well, we had the youngster Ghere Coates and he came back from a not so good performance in the circuit race at the Pan Am Base. We also had Conroy Thomas who did a fantastic job at it yesterday and actually won the Elite and we had the veteran Robert Marsh coming in, along with Jeffrey Kelsick. Sean Weatherhead in the Elite had a mechanical issue that dropped him back in the first lap quite a few minutes behind the leaders. In the Masters and Sports Class, they had a big fight going on with Ira Fabian, the veteran, coming back out and he rode a good race in the Masters category. There was also Patrick Peters stepping up as well, Ariel Flemming in the Sports class, so all the guys put out a good ride,” Williams said.

The ABCF calendar of events is expected to continue on May 30 with the staging of the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union Road Race.

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